Slit-Mouthed Woman
by CakeMakesTheWorldGo'Round
Summary: One of the most horrifying cases SPR has tackled yet. Faced with a vengeful ghost who leaves a trail of bodies behind, lots of lives are on the line. Can they escape with mouths intact, or will their names be added to death's list?
1. Chapter 1

AN/: Hello everyone! This story is just an experiment, so if you like it, tell me 'kay? I don't know where I'm going with this story. so if you have tips or suggestions, they're all welcome :)

~zeal~

* * *

Her long, black hair fluttered in the breeze. The streets were empty, and the moon was full, revealing her faded trench coat that swished along her ankles. Blood seeped into the beige material from a deep wound in her stomach, the blood dripping on the damp road. She would've been mesmerizing, were it not for the gruesome sight that was her mouth; cut from ear to ear, it was barely two flaps of skin. She then spoke, her voice chilling to the core; seemingly coming from everywhere,

_Am I beautiful?..._

* * *

That one line kept repeating in my dreams. It had been bothering me for some time, so much so that I preferred not to sleep, but I couldn't muster the courage to talk to Naru; he would probably insult my brain capacity and tell me to bring him some-

"Mai, tea!" And there it was.

A long-suffering sigh escaped my lips as I dragged my worn body to the kitchen. Preparing tea tended to calm me, but today, I just couldn't seem to get rid of the uneasiness I felt. The whistle of the kettle shook me out of my daze and I took the tea to Lin-san's office. Our relationship had gotten better after they came back from England; the talked and smiled more freely now. I knocked on his door and received a 'come in'.

Closing the door softly behind me, I placed the tea-cup on his desk, with ginger biscuits, his favorites. "Here you go, Lin-san." He smiled softly at me, "Thank you, Mai-san." I tried to smile back at him, fatigue clearly on my face. Concern on his face, he asked, "Is everything okay, Mai-san?" Inserting false cheer into my voice, and trying to look like I wasn't lying, I said, " Everything is fine. Thank you for your concern." Producing a somewhat real smile, before he could ask anything else and widen the cracks in my façade, I quickly made my way to Naru's office.

Armed with the remaining tea-cup and a plate of mint and chocolate wafers, I squared my shoulders and got ready to approach him. Without bothering to knock, I made my way inside, gave him the tea and wafers, and was nearly out of the door when his cool voice stopped me. "Mai, are you sleeping well enough? I need your full concentration if we decide to take a case." I must really look bad if Naru was curious. Despite the fact that I knew this was his way of showing he cared, I could not stop the anger that was sparked by his words. But the anger was gone as fast as it came; smothered by the uneasiness I felt earlier, along with a sick feeling in my stomach.

Trying to regain my composure, I slowly turned around to face him. Crossing my fingers, I prayed I wouldn't stutter, as this would alert him to my lies. "I have exams, so I stayed up late to study." I shrugged my shoulders for good measure, as if to say 'you know how it is', but of course he wouldn't know, as he was a 'genius'. He gave me a look that shouted 'do you think I'm stupid?'. Slumping my shoulders, I dropped all pretense of being okay, and Naru's eyes widened as he took in my look of utter defeat. "Mai..." he began softly. Never before had he used a tone so caring towards me.

"What happened to you?" The question I hoped he wouldn't ask passed his lips. If I told him the truth, I would have someone to help me with my dreams and to share my experiences with, but, Naru would spend more time focusing on me rather than research, which he clearly had a passion for. It was an easy decision.

"I-I don't want to talk about it. If I'm ready I will come to you myself. I just...want to come to terms with it myself, for now. But thank you very much for your concern, I really appreciate it." By the time I finished talking, Naru's face had gone back to stoic again. I hoped he understood that I wanted to deal with this by myself at the moment. I smiled at him, a true smile, before walking out of the door. "Oh and Mai," I stopped and gave him a curious stare. "We have a client due at 5pm. Make sure to finish the remaining paperwork by then." I nodded and sat down at my desk, my mood slightly less darker than before.


	2. Chapter 2

AN/: Second chapter's up! Please review :) And in-case it wasn't clear, the last chapter was in mai's pov and that will continue throughout the story. But if it changes I'll inform you.

P.S. Mai has awesome powers in this fanfic ;D

~zeal~

* * *

5pm rolled by quicker than I thought. I had finished the paperwork thirty minutes ago, and was listening to my iPod when someone knocked on the door. It was loud enough that it startled me from my peaceful state and momentarily I lost control of my PK, sending my bag flying onto Naru's door. He was going to kill me. But before he could appear and send me into an 'I'm sorry! It won't happen again' frenzy, the front door opened and revealed our client, he looked around 22; my age. As I took in his haggard appearance, his aura came into view; completely gray, except for the few streaks of relief. It seemed that our client had lost a lot of sleep over his ghost problem, from what the dark circles under his eyes and the exhaustion in his posture told me.

"I-I have an appointment. My name is Akio Manabe." He bowed. I instantly put on a smile and bowed back. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Mai Taniyama. You can call me Mai if you like." My bright smile seemed to have lifted the depression from his aura a bit, leaving his happiness at finding a pleasant person to help with his problems. "Pleasure to meet you too. I will call you Mai-chan if you call me Akio." I grinned at him, also feeling a lot better.

"Deal." I led him over to out black leather couch and told him to take a seat. At this moment, Naru came out of his door and gave me a warning look, and received an apologetic one back. "I am Kazuya Shibuya, the CEO of Shibyua Psychic Research. Please state your problem." he said.

Now more at ease, Akio said, "I think a ghost is haunting the small town I live in." At Naru's cold stare, he continued. "I know that thus sounds like a human culprit, but", he gulped, "people are being found with their mouth cut from ear to ear in the early morning. 15 people have already died, cause of death was determined blood loss." I tried to stifle my horrified gasp and looked to Naru's grim face. "Have you contacted the authorities? And how can you be so sure that it is not a human committing these murders?" Akio's eyes turned sad and he glanced at me.

"No one has contacted the authorities because you have a reputation of avoiding the media. As with the murders, I am positive that it is a ghost. I have CCTV footage to prove it, but the videos don't have any sound." He held out a package and Naru gestured for me to put the disks in the DVD player.

The screen flickered as the video began.

It was dark and a man walked alone on a deserted street. He kept looking around like he was expecting something to jump out at him, and was heading towards the camera. He turned his back to the camera and appeared to be talking on his phone, so he didn't see the shadow approaching him. The figure had long, black hair and was wearing a trench coat.

My uneasiness returned full blast. It just wasn't possible; this was probably just a coincidence, and had nothing to do with my dreams. On the screen, the woman whispered in the man's ear as he turned pale. He asnwered something back and the woman smirked dangerously, her back still to the CCTV camera; the man stumbled back as his eyes caught the bloody scissors in the woman's hands. Prolonging his torture, she slowly slid the blade over the man's face, tearing the skin straight through and instantly covering the man in blood. Silent screams erupted from his mouth at the overwhelming pain.

Slowly. the woman turned and faced the camera, grinning dementedly. She disappeared into thin air, then suddenly her face filled the whole screen. Her mouth opened, revealing a row of rotten teeth, and her tongue slithered out, trailing along the lens of the camera, covering it in saliva. She mouthed a name, then stabbed the lens with her scissors.

Slowly, the screen faded to black...

I hadn't even noticed I was crying, tears falling in hot rivers down my cheeks. An agonised wail filled my ears, and I realised I was making that heart wrenching noise. There was no doubt about it; she was the one I had been dreaming about.

But one thing shook me most of all.

The name she uttered was mine.


End file.
